A Small Company of Actors

Abstract

The concept of style has been central to material culture studies for the past 50 years. During this time, the main problem of style has been one of defi nition. Whether cultural evolutionist, processualist or constructivist, the problem of 'what is style' has remained problematic. This paper attempts to go beyond the quest for a definition of style to question the foundations of the categorization of the world into style and utility, and, through the work of others, challenge the dualist doctrine that constitutes our view of the material world and our relation to it.